The Street Rat 210

“Absolutely not.” Maria stood in front of the door, her arms folded across her chest.

“I’ve already wasted too much time the past few days,” Eddie pleaded with her. “The longer I’m not out there figuring out what’s going on, the more people are getting abducted.”

“Eddie, you were just shot. You’re not ready to go back out there. Let Archer carry the load while you rest. If you go out there in your state, you’re just going to fall further behind.”

“I need to be out there,” he said as he shook his head. “Archer is doing his best, but he’s by himself out there. These are my people disappearing. My community, that I am supposed to be protecting. I can’t not do anything.”

“Eddie—” Maria softened her voice “—I get what you’re saying, but you can’t go out there right now. You’re going to get yourself hurt, or worse, and no one is helped by that.”

“But—”

“I’ll go with Archer. I know how important this is to you, and it’s just as important to me. They’re not just your people. Everyone out there did whatever they could to help take care of me and Tomas and Alex, and I owe it to them just as much as you do to figure this out. I’ll go with Archer the next couple nights while you rest to look for clues. Then you can start up rounds again. Deal?”

“Fine.” Eddie put his hands up and walked back over to sit on the bed. “But I want a full debrief each night when you get back about what happened.”

“Deal. Now, I’m going to change. Can I trust you to not leave while I’m in the other room?”

Eddie lifted his left hand and put his right one over his heart. “You have my word.”

Maria headed for the building Eddie had told her he and Archer typically met at and climbed the fire escape. 

“Go home.” Archer was looking out over the city when the last step on the fire escape gave away her position. “You’re not ready.” 

“Excuse me? You know nothing about how ready I am.”

Archer’s head whipped around as she talked. 

“I apologize.” He lowered his head before continuing. “I expected Eddie to show up and try to patrol tonight, and I don’t believe he is ready after his injury. I didn’t anticipate it being you on the roof when I said that.”

“It’s fine.” Maria walked over to where he was standing by the edge. “It’s important to Eddie, and it’s important to me that we figure out why people are disappearing from the streets. Since he isn’t able to come out right now, I told him I’d help look for clues.”

“Well,” Archer said as he walked past her to the escape, “let’s get started.”

The two descended to the ground, and Archer led the way. He opted to walk away from Sal’s this time. 

“So, how’s this work?” Maria asked, walking faster than usual to make sure she stayed even with Archer as they walked. 

“What do you mean?”

“We’re out here looking for clues and stuff, right? How do we do that?”

“I figured you and Eddie had done this before.”

“Well, we haven’t. Now, how does this work?”

“We’re trying to find areas where the abductions have been happening and talk to people who have any information about it; anything they’ve seen or heard. If we get lucky and see something happening, then that gives us more info, too. There’s not really, like, a manual for this. We just try different things to find out what’s going on.”

“Okay,” Maria panted. 

They walked up and down the blocks but had no luck. They found very few people out on the streets, and those they did find either didn’t have or wouldn’t share information.

***

The next night started the same way, with Maria arriving at the top of the roof to find Archer waiting. 

“What’s the plan for tonight?” she asked. 

“Same as last night.”

“But last night didn’t get us anywhere.” 

“That’s why we have to do it again.” Archer turned and headed to the ladder. 

“I have another idea,” Maria said, standing in the same place. 

“Yeah?”

“Yes. There’s a night shelter a few blocks from here. They have good food, and they welcome people all night. There will be people there with the information we’re looking for.”

“Then lead the way.” Archer stepped aside and let Maria go down the fire escape first. 

They walked the four blocks to the shelter in silence, Maria in front, and Archer following her. They came to the old church door to find a brick wedged in as a doorstop to allow people to come in and out without the door locking. 

They walked into the shelter room to find about thirty-five people sitting at tables and lying on mats along the wall. Maria led Archer to a doorway that opened up into a kitchen. 

“Maria!” A man hopped up from his chair to walk over and give her a hug.

“¿Come estas, morra?” a woman asked, joining the hug. 

“Bien, gracias.” Maria smiled back. 

“What are you doing here?” the man asked. “Where are my boys? And Eddie? Who is this?”

“One at a time, tío,” Maria laughed. “This is our friend, Archer. Archer, this is Carlos and Gabi Mendez. Carlos is the pastor here at La Iglesia de Dios, and Gabi works for a local nonprofit, helping people transition out of homelessness. Together, they run the shelter. 

“The boys are with Eddie. Eddie is at the motel we’ve been staying at. Archer and I are here because we’ve been hearing a lot about people disappearing from the streets, and we’re worried for people. We wanted to come see if there was any information we could find that could help.”

“Anything to help the Street Rat.” The woman smiled. 

“I don’t know what you mean.” Maria crossed her arms and took a subconscious step back. 

“Come on, morra,” the man laughed. “The worst-kept secret within the district is that Eddie is the Street Rat, at least among the people on the ground level. Don’t worry, no one who would want to do him any harm would be able to find out.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Only to those of us who know him,” the woman answered as she patted Maria’s back. 

“Unfortunately, we don’t have a ton of information to give you,” the man sighed as he sat back down in his worn-out recliner. “The sweeps have gotten worse, and a bunch of our clients are missing, but we can’t find anything out about where they’re taking them.”

“The only thing that has helped is they’ve gotten a bit sloppy with their schedule. They’ve gotten predictable with when they’re going to do the sweeps, so we can at least try and warn people to stay away from those places.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Archer asked, stepping forward from the doorway. 

“They make a circle around the districts every week,” the man answered, drawing a circle in the air with his finger. “Two a day, Monday through Friday. One during the day, one at night. The next week, they flip it to make sure they catch the day shift and night shift in each area.”

“Can we get that information?” Archer asked again. 

“If you get caught with this, you didn’t get it from us.” The woman winked at them and handed them a flyer that had the different districts color-coded and showed which times the sweeps would occur in each area.

“This is really helpful. Thank you guys so much.” Maria hugged the woman and then the man. 

“Anything for you,” the man said as he embraced her. “You take care of the boys. All three of them,” he added with a laugh. 

“I do my best.” She smiled back. 

“Come see us again sometime soon.”

“I promise I will,” she said as she and Archer backed out of the room and walked out of the church. 

“This is a game changer,” Archer said as they exited. “That was a great call you made. How did you know they’d have the information we’d need?”

“They always have whatever I need. Whether it’s a hot meal, a safe place to stay, or information, I know I can count on them to have it. Have been able to ever since we ended up on the streets after Mama got arrested.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. But I’m glad you had someone you could lean on. I had been curious how you ended up on the streets.”

Maria nodded as they walked back toward the motel. After a block in silence, she decided to answer. 

“My mom was taken to jail about eighteen months ago. My father had been killed a couple years before that. He was a baker. He was leaving the shop one night, and it was the wrong time to be in the wrong place. He got caught in a drive-by.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Archer said. 

Maria nodded. “My mom hadn’t had a job since I had been born, and suddenly, she had to work to take care of us. We lost our house, jumped from friends’ couches to short-term apartments to hotels. My mom kept our information on our school forms the same as when my dad was still alive. She didn’t want us to have to bounce from school to school every time we moved. We were already in the best public school in the district, and I already had my friends there. 

“But she got caught. She didn’t know she was committing a crime. She got five years in state. They were going to split me and the boys up, so we went on the streets instead of into the system. There are horror stories about what happens in the Sanders juvenile placement system. 

“We had met Eddie during the time between my dad’s death and mom’s arrest. He helped us transition from the beginning. He had never worried about staying in a motel or anything, but he began working to make sure we’d be able to as soon as we got out there.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Archer repeated. “That has to be tough for you.”

“It is. But that’s life. We’re doing the best we can.”

“That’s all you can do, I guess.”

“That’s all you can do.” 

They continued their walk back in the chilly night air.

The Street Rat will return with episode 211 March 3rd.

For more stories set in this world, buy The White Knight – out now! Subscribe below to be the first to know when new stories are released!